


The More the... More

by AislingSiobhan



Series: Prompts and Gifts [23]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: AU, Fury being furious, Loki being a little shit, M/M, No actual Krees, Or Skrulls, Post-Avengers, Sassy Tony, Team Bonding, Tony Being Tony, the Avengers are hiring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:49:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2089428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AislingSiobhan/pseuds/AislingSiobhan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Kree-Skull war unexpectedly becomes Earth’s business, SHIELD opens the proverbial floodgates, killing two birds with one stone by getting some of the costumed vigilantes off the streets and onto their payroll. The Avengers end up with a new member. Tony recruits one (or five) of his own. Avengers Fest gift fic 2014.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The More the... More

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Meylora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meylora/gifts).



This is for the Avengers Fest gift exchange on Live Journal and AO3.

This is for: _Amy W.Key (LJ) / Meylora (AO3)_ Hope you enjoy it (even though most of what I usually write was included in your ‘dislikes’ list…) 

 

**“The More The… More”**

**Disclaimer:** The Avengers, Tony, Loki, etc belong to Marvel, Stan Lee, et co. I make no money from this and own nothing, don’t sue.  
 **Summary:** [Tony/Loki] When the Kree-Skull war unexpectedly becomes Earth’s business, SHIELD opens the proverbial floodgates, killing two birds with one stone by getting some of the costumed vigilantes off the streets and onto their payroll. The Avengers end up with a member. Tony recruits one (or five) of his own.  
 **Warnings:** Slash. Loki/Tony. Post-Avengers. AU setting. Avengers are hiring. Team bonding. Tony being sassy. Fury being furious. Loki being a little shit. No actual Krees. Or Skrulls.  
 **Rating:** PG15  
 **A/N:** I went with the introduction to the team scenario. Hope it turned out well! 

**Title:** As in, the more the merrier.

_XXX_

**Words:** 2,730  
 **Chapter 1**  
Director Fury wasn't someone who liked to be kept waiting. _He_ kept people waiting for him! Not the other way around. He was the Director of SHIELD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, a top secret organization, with vast technological resources at its disposal, with U.N. General Assembly Resolutions and legislation passed in signatory nations aiding many of their operations with the blessing of the United Nations. Without him, the other organizations would be like rats scurrying down drain pipes, blind from the dark and noses fucked from sniffing too closely at things that'd scratch their eyes out. 

People _didn't_ keep him waiting. 

Except Tony Stark. 

"Where the fuck is he?" Fury muttered, having long ago lost what little patience he had. "Motherfucker, I'm gonna," he trailed off into indistinguishable mumbling then, and no matter how hard Clint strained his ears, he couldn't hear what his boss was saying. 

"You're gonna what, was that?" Tony asked, sauntering out of the lift and into what had been designated the official Avengers 'hanging-out' room. The second lift reached their level, announcing its arrival with a sharp ring, but the doors stayed firmly closed courtesy of Jarvis. "I didn't quite catch that," Tony added, as he used one finger to nudge his sunglasses further down his nose so that he could peer at Fury over them. 

"You!" A long finger was suddenly in Tony's face, its owner not far behind as the Director strode towards him, practically foaming at the mouth. "Sit your motherfucking skinny white ass down on that motherfucking couch before I sit you down, Stark!" 

"Sir, yes, sir!" The inventor intoned, his grin firmly still in place. He even went as far as to salute mockingly. 

"Sir?" Steve asked, voice calm and face impassive, though he hunched forward slightly in the way he always did when he was eagerly awaiting instructions: ever the wind-up toy soldier, waiting for 'jump' and not needing to ask 'how high'. Tony rolled his eyes at his friend, fond of him despite that. "Who is she?" He politely nodded his head at the young woman waiting silently beside the small bar that Tony had installed on that floor. She was in her mid to late twenties, petite and blonde, with a thin waist and unnecessarily large breasts. 

Tony wondered how she managed to keep the buttons on her shirt closed, even as Thor and Steve respectfully kept their eyes away from that general area. Bruce kept away, in general; he always hovered by the large bay window, just in case he lost his temper and needed to take a flight to cool down. Clint and Natasha were sitting side by side on the single-person armchair, wedged in (Tony thought uncomfortably, but the assassins liked to press close together, so perhaps not so uncomfortable then). They sat straight backed and eyes narrowed, arms folded in their laps as they awaited information or orders, but neither so much as looked at the young woman who shyly waved and smiled towards them. They had looked at her plenty enough when she had first arrived: Clint, from the air vents, and Natasha as she pretended to make everyone tea, waiting for Jarvis to boil the water while she watched in the reflection off the kettle.

"Is there no coffee?" Tony groused as he slipped into the free spot on the large couch, between Steve and Thor, who both liked to lean against the armrests. There was an armchair free, so Tony waved at it invitingly, and the young woman hesitantly came forward to curl up in it, legs tucked under her bum. 

"This is Carol Danvers[,]" Fury began his introduction by clasping his hands behind his back and starting his familiar pacing, back and forth, in front of them. His back was to the lift. "Codename, Ms Marvel." 

"Sorry, Sir," Steve interrupted, cheeks turning a light shade of pink as everyone (Ms Marvel included) turned their heads to stare at him, "but codename? Why does she have a codename?"

Before Fury could answer, Tony did. He stretched his arms out along the back of the couch, fingers just about able to hook around Thor and Steve's necks respectively (like a cheesy rom-com, where the two men would then lean into his embrace because Tony faked a yawn). His legs were stretched in front of him, ankles crossed and toes pointed upwards. He was grinning, wide and fake and he had pulled sunglasses out of a pocket to hide his eyes that were crinkled at the corners as he fought not to laugh out loud. 

"She's one of the Avengers now!" Tony announced joyfully, though he looked smug yet casual as he spoke. "SHIELD held try-outs. Danvers passed with flying colors." 

"Sir?" Clint sounded as tense as he looked. He hadn't known about this, and by the look on Natasha's face (or rather the tiny crease at the corners of her mouth that gave away her displeasure) she hadn't either. "Why weren't we told?"

"The World Security Council felt it best not to allow for any prejudice or preference on part of the current team of Avengers," Fury explained, as he cast his eye over each person in the room, with the exception of Tony Stark, "to interfere with the selection process. Only they, myself and Agent Hill were aware of the situation."

"And Jarvis," Tony corrected softly. "So, you know, by default, me." They always seemed to forget that Tony had been contracted to help build the Hellicarrier; he had been given free reign with its systems and its interface and all of its defences. They were like walls made from sand whenever Tony wanted access: they crumbled at his command. "So," he added cheerfully. He pointed at the second lift that was still waiting on their floor, the one he had not exited from earlier. He continued, slipping his glasses off so that Fury could experience the full effect of Tony's smugness: "I held some interviews of my own."

"Actually," a young man said, looking horribly embarrassed to have everyone staring at him so suddenly, "he sort of just kidnapped me." The elevator doors pinged closed behind him. The lift Tony had used earlier began to descend. 

"Don't be like that, Peter!" Tony chuckled. He stood and made his way towards the teenager. The teenager was tall and thin, gangly while still being moderately attractive (he'd grow into his looks, Tony was sure), with a mess of brown hair and blue eyes. "This is Peter Parker, and he applied for an internship with me six times last year. I told him I'd give him one if he let me interview him personally."

"He asked me to meet him in Central Park and never turned up."

"I sent a representative!"

"You led the Enchantress straight to me!" Peter's face had gone red, half from anger (talk about holding a grudge) and half from shame, because that had not been one of his best fights!

Another teenage boy had been silently waiting at the lift, having stepped out along with Peter but managed to avoid gaining any attention. He was taller than Peter, his shoulders were wider and he had a face that could stop traffic, but there was something off about him, something dark. Tony had flinched the first time he had met those unnatural amber eyes. When he was angry or startled, they were almost orange, but usually they were an unassuming shade of brown. He was Harry Osborn, and up until recently he was also the Green Goblin. Peter and Tony had worked together to stabilise the serum Harry had used on himself to save his life: that had been Peter's price for joining the Avengers. He'd have done it for the financial stability anyway, but Tony didn't need to know that (he did anyway, Peter was certain, but that didn't mean Peter was going to admit it out loud). 

"And you lost horribly," Harry drawled. He hadn't needed to join them. Tony Stark hadn't been interested in him, aside from the effects the serum had had and what future effects there might be. But if Peter went, Harry was going, because he owed Peter a hell of a lot, and because after finding out Peter was Spiderman[,] Harry didn't want to risk waking up some morning to the news of his death all over the papers. 

"And you call yourself a superhero. Superloser, more like," Harry teased, offering Peter a half-smile over his shoulder as he walked around him and plopped himself down in Tony's vacated seat. 

"Hey! That's mine!" The genius scowled, folding his arms across his chest. 

Harry rolled one shoulder into a half-hearted shrug, quirking up the right side of his mouth when Peter started laughing. The younger looked much less tense now; more comfortable, as he made his way over to his friend. Peter paused, glancing at the tiny gap between Harry and Captain America and then at the arm rest which had Thor practically glued against it. Eventually, Harry just tugged him forward, an arm around his waist to keep Peter from jumping straight back off of his lap. 

"Yeah, so I held a few auditions. Peter passed, but he and Osborn are a package deal, so deal with it. Also, posthumously sticking it to Norman; always a plus. Unfortunately," Tony drawled, dragging the word out for longer than its five syllables, "I'm not as hardass as you SHIELD cronies, so, I found it hard to strike people off my shortlist. So I chose them all!" Tony spread his arms in a ta-da motion, complete with spirit-fingers and a shit-eating grin. 

The first elevator chose that moment to arrive on their floor again: rather, Jarvis waited until that moment to send the elevator back. The doors opened with a chime. Soft music wafted towards the waiting group, along with faint sounds of a couple arguing. 

"I want to go first!" A male voice whined. 

"I'm older!" A woman answered, sounding more tired than angry, almost resigned to the topic of their argument. "You always go first," she added, and Tony could imagine the fierce pout she was likely sporting.

"Fine!" The man exclaimed, as he strode out of the elevator with his arms in the air, having thrown them up in exasperation. "Go first then, see if I care!" 

Wanda watched her brother, and rolled her eyes. Nice as those words sounded, Pietro had had no intention of letting her steal his lime light. Even now, Quicksilver was running rings around the group who couldn't see him, helping himself to wallets and watches and phones. With a handful of loot to brag about, Pietro stopped moving at the speed of light just in time for Wanda to walk towards him (at a regular speed for regular Mutants). 

"Nice try, kid," Tony said, snatching his wallet back from Pietro's hand. The rest of the items he left there, because it amused him to watch Clint and Bruce pat themselves down, checking to see if the wallets they recognized were _actually theirs_. "Wanda and Pietro Maximoff," Tony introduced them with a casual voice and a lazy wave of his hand, "otherwise known as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Or you know, if it helps, Magneto's love children that he doesn't know about. Shush, don't ruin the surprise." Wanda glared at him, but Pietro's eyebrows furrowed and his mouth curled down in thought: unlike his sister, he didn't know who their father was. Tony was the only person in the room ruining any surprises. 

"Stark!" Fury started to shout, and then stopped. "This!" He tried again. Words failed him though. Instead, he ran his hand down his face, as if he could simply wipe away this problem along with the sweat beading on his forehead and the tip of his nose. "You!" 

"You're welcome," Tony suggested, grinning. "I did your job for you. Now you guys," he directed his words to his team mates, grin only widening at every bewildered gaze that met his own, "can have that holiday you've always dreamed of. Thor! Take Jane back to Asgard, have a blast. Bruce, you're probably dying to cure cholera in India, am I right? Clint, Nat, it's never too late for a second Budapest!" They glared at him in unison for that, hating that Tony knew what so many other people didn't, what they had refused to tell other people. "Steve! Steve! Hear a friend of yours is in some hospital in Brooklyn. You're probably due for a visit, right?"

Fury looked about ready to explode. If they were in a cartoon, steam would have been pouring from the Director's ears and nose and the top of his head might have popped off as a kettle whistled somewhere in the background. As it was, the man only clenched his fists and ground his teeth until his jaw hurt, and when he was done doing that, he strode up to Tony with one long finger pointing right at him and started to scream. The finger poked Tony just to the left of his arc reactor so many times, there was probably going to be a permanent imprint of Fury's fingerprint and the little half moon of his nail just above it. The engineer had to keep wiping the spit off his face with one hand and using the other to shield his ear, alternating left to right as needed. 

"What?" Tony asked innocently, once the man finally paused for breath. 

"You know what, Stark!" Fury growled, his eyes narrowed into slits. "None of these... people," (and he spat that word like it was poison, a last minute substitution for children) "qualify for the Avengers Initiative. You've breached-" Tony cut him off by placing two fingers across Fury's lips. 

"I thought the criterion was, and I’m quoting Barton here, ‘costumed, sassy and capable of kicking ass’?" Fury didn't respond, other than to slap away Tony's hand. "I'll take that as a yes. So. They qualify." 

He had been saving the best until last, of course. He was Tony Stark, and he liked nothing more than to put on a good show (or set a nice fire) and to watch the explosions happen after. "FYI," the genius added as he backed himself up towards the elevator, which Jarvis had kindly opened for him. "I also invited Loki."

At the sound of his name the God of Mischief teleported into the room. He appeared in a mist of light green and his lips were stretched wide enough to flash his teeth as he grinned at the Avengers in turn. He stood next to Tony, just in front of the lift, and his leather clad legs went on for miles and crossed at the ankles as he casually used Tony to prop himself up. 

"I am so very flattered to have been considered," Loki drawled, licking his lips before biting down on his bottom one as his eyelashes fluttered. He kept his gaze mostly between Fury and Clint, teasing as well as cruel, as he ignored the others completely. He didn't react to Thor's exclamation of joy at his presence, or to Natasha's hiss of disgust, but he did rather enjoy the way Barton flinched at the sight of him. "I think I'll accept your most generous offer," he told Tony, turning to look down on the shorter man, "on one condition."

"The one I promised you we’d try last week and then didn’t cause Pepper made me go to a meeting like a responsible adult?" Tony confirmed. 

"The very same," Loki purred. And then Loki lent down to kiss him.

"Lab sex, here I come!" Tony was still grinning, and now Loki was too, and together they stepped into the lift. The Avengers managed to catch sight of them kissing again, just before Jarvis closed the elevator doors on them. The lift descended, and with it, the room descended into chaos[,] too. Just the way Tony and Loki liked it: they had to come out about their relationship at some point, and this had been too tempting an opportunity to pass up. 

Jarvis made sure to record it all in HD and surround sound. And then maybe, if he was feeling particularly helping, add some epic background music, on low volume, for dramatic effect. 

**The End**

Yeah, so there was none of the so-called Kree vs Skrull war, but hey, I was asked for “an Avengers bonding fic”. In my mind, that means bonding over Tony’s inability to play well with others once Tony’s out of the room.


End file.
